


Lunch

by zombiefishgirl



Series: Of Ardour and Adoration [17]
Category: Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-11
Updated: 2015-08-11
Packaged: 2018-04-14 03:51:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,276
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4549224
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zombiefishgirl/pseuds/zombiefishgirl





	Lunch

Ordinarily Cullen hated to be pulled from his work, but then again ordinarily the company was seldom as enticing as the small elf sitting across from. Around midday their Herald had marched up to him in the training yard where he was supervising the new recruits and lamenting the very real possibility that they would never make the connection between the shield in their hand and the possibility of using it to block. In front of all these men she had stood, arms crossing, brow furrowed in mild anger and admonished him for not having gone to any meals in the past day or so. He knew he should feel embaressed or even a little angry at being harangued in front of his men by a woman a good foot shorter than him but all he could focus on was the fire in her brilliant green eyes and the slight pout to her deliciously pink lower lip...He was beginning to get so lost in his less than professional thoughts that it took him a moment to realise that her small hand was firmly wrapped around his arm as she dragged him off from his now snickering recruits. "My lady...if you do not mind my asking, just where are you taking me?"  
"You will see." she repeated simply, dragging him through the main gates and to the small cabin she had been given. For a moment he was fairly certain that he must be asleep and dreaming, this was the only possible explanation for the most beautiful woman he had ever seen dragging him to her private cabin in the middle of the day. The only thing that convinced him that he was awake was the fact that his dreams were rarely so kind to him.  
She worked her way behind him and stood on tip toes to cover his eyes with her hands and he almost shuddered at the feel of her body pressed so close and the smell of elfroot and lilacs surrounding him. She led him forward a little more, telling him when to push the door open. Once they were inside she pulled her hands away.  
"You know you can open your eyes now..." she laughed. He did and saw her smiling triumphantly next to a table laden with all kinds of foods including the most delicious smelling stew. She met his gaze and he noticed that the tips of her ears had turned slightly pink. "I thought since you seem so incapable of feeding yourself I would make sure you had at least one decent meal before I headed back off to the Hinterlands." He was speechless and the pink on her ears deepened. "Then I realised that I did not really know what you like to eat and so I thought I would get us a little of everything that way there was bound to be something...but then again maybe..." She was beginning to doubt herself but he was still caught up in the kindness of the gesture and one word she had said. He cleared his throat, "Us?" He repeated just to make sure he had heard correctly.  
"Oh I just thought that we could maybe eat together? But if you would rather eat alone that is fine too, I had been meaning to test my new bow so I could just go do that instead if you like?"  
"I could hardly kick you out of your cabin and besides this is far too much food for just me," he smiled feeling a little bolder, "besides I seldom get the opportunity to share a meal with such a lovely woman."  
She ducked her head but he managed to spot the brilliant smile that lit up her whole face.  
They spent the next hour steadily working through the meal, tasting a little of the various soups and stews, fruits and vegetables spread before them and sharing little details of their days and lives. He was surprised to hear that she had provided much of the meat to their kitchens before she explained that hunting for food for the people she was with helped her feel a bit more normal, like her life had not changed completely since being separated from her clan. He told her little stories about this recruit or that recruit and she told him about the various companions she had picked up on her travels. She had him laughing, a full belly laugh as she did an eerily accurate impression of Solas and Sera's bickering and Cassandra's annoyance at them both. It was the most calm and relaxed he had felt in, Maker, he did not know how many years. He had just finished telling her a story about a Chantry sister who had reported his silly childhood mischief to his mother when she burst into giggles.  
"That just reminded me, the other day I was talking to Dorian, I cannot even remember what about and I said something about surprising him and he said the only way I could do that would be to hand myself in at Val Royeux and get flogged naked by some Chantry sisters! Can you imagine?"  
Imagine he could and did. The image came to him all at once, her lovely, creamy pale skin, her face framed by her raven black hair, her bare for all to see, for him to see. Her breasts bouncing a little with her breath, the nipples, as pink as her lips maybe? Hardened in the cold, what it would be like to kiss those breasts? Her mouth saying his name...He snapped back to reality as he realised that she was in fact saying his name. She looked a little bemused. "Are you alright? You seemed to get lost in yourself for a moment there?"  
More like lost in you, or at least the thought of you he thought to himself. "Ah yes I...ahem...I just realised that I should really be getting back to my duties...but thank you for the meal it was...it was wonderful." He rubbed the back of his neck nervously and he was sure that he was now as red as Leliana's hair.  
He stood to leave, hoping that the reports she had given him while he was there would be enough to hide the bulge that had grown rather suddenly in his trousers. He had almost made it out the door when he heard her say his name once more.  
"Cullen? That is...Commander...I would very much like if we can eat together like this again sometime? When I get back maybe?"  
Say no his mind screamed at him. Say no she could never feel the way he did. She was a Dalish elf and the Herald of Andraste, a woman so good and kind that she would go out of her way to help every single person she met including the people who had had her locked up not so very long ago. She could not possibly be interested in a broken ex-templar coming off lyrium and to spend more time with her would just be encouraging these foolish fantasies in his mind.  
This time his mouth was the traitor as while his mind told him all these very good reasons to say no he found himself replying that he would very much like that. And that she should feel more than free to call him by his name.  
"Cullen" she repeated and the way her mouth said it reminded him of eating a spoonful of honey. "Alright but you have to call me by name instead of Herald then, agreed?"  
"Agreed...Sarita."


End file.
